Revealed: What’s really in Usman Khawaja’s book

Usman Khawaja’s highly anticipated autobiography has finally landed.

Here are some of the allegations worth knowing from Sabr, particularly from chapter 17, titled “Sandpaper”, which revisits the infamous 2018 ball-tampering scandal.

Amid a series of disclosures in the book, which was released publicly on Tuesday, Khawaja suggested the entire Australian team knew about the plot to use sandpaper on the ball in the third Test against South Africa eight years ago and the tactic had also been deployed in the previous Test, in Gqeberha.

While Khawaja doesn’t explicitly say specific players knew of the plot to use sandpaper to tamper with the ball, he implies that everyone in the Australian dressing room knew what was going on.

Meanwhile, Khawaja alleges members of Australia’s coaching staff in 2016 had a “serious issue” with drinking and reveals his disappointment with teammate Travis Head over the “pain and stress” caused by him publicly declaring he had always wanted to open the batting after his match-winning century against England in last summer’s Ashes Test in Perth.

Khawaja also details how he was racially abused in the Lord’s long room in 2023.

On Sandpapergate

Before the 2018 Test series against South Africa, Khawaja says a member of Australia’s coaching staff talked about wanting players to work on the ball to make it swing more, saying “I don’t care what you have to do”.

“I personally never tampered with a ball – in terms of scratching it or anything – but I knew everything that was going on and I wasn’t against it, which makes me complicit,” Khawaja wrote.

“Everything you might have heard or read about what happened … in South Africa in the sandpaper controversy isn’t entirely true. The cricket team management and Cricket Australia board at the time had their own agendas and they tried their best at damage control and to cover up as much as they could.

“I won’t speak on behalf of any other players – that’s for them to talk about. Of course, I bloody knew what was happening with the sandpaper.

“I always wanted to talk about it. I never said I didn’t know about the sandpaper issue – not to anyone or any news organisation. I would never blatantly lie like that.”

On the use of sandpaper by the team

Khawaja goes into detail on how the sandpaper was actually used in the second Test in Port Elizabeth, one before the infamous match in Cape Town.

“We all knew that the umpire would drop the ball on the boundary as we went out onto the field. At that point, there’d be no cameras on us and the umpires would be about 100 metres ahead. We could then do whatever we wanted. Straightaway, Bull [David Warner] said, ‘Well, I can’t do it – they’re all over me.’ I was never going to do it, nor did I think anyone else would. So I just laughed. Then, Cameron Bancroft, who was only six games into his Test career and maybe wanting to fit in, said, ‘I’ll do it.’

“When something becomes so prevalent – like doping was in the Tour de France for years – it’s hard not to join in. Compete, or be left behind. Not that it makes it right.”

On other bowlers knowing

Khawaja alleges the ball was moving so dramatically at one point that some Australian players asked those responsible for tampering with it to leave it alone.

“One of the bowlers said in the huddle after a wicket, ‘Guys, it’s going heaps now. Just don’t do anything else to it, because it’s silly how much it’s going.’ Most of us just laughed.”

On the coach’s instruction

Khawaja says an unnamed coach told Bancroft: “Whatever you’re doing, we need more of it.”

“Then I saw Bangers pick up a piece of sandpaper and put it in his pocket,” Khawaja wrote. “The coach gave both me and Cameron a wry smile of satisfaction and walked away. The push from this coach, though, obviously made him feel like he had to do it more often.”

How the drama unfolded

Captain Steve Smith told Bancroft to put the sandpaper away, while Khawaja encouraged the youngster to get off the field.

“But Cameron was catatonic at this stage. He didn’t know what to do. Every one of the boys on the field then was shitting themselves. And Bangers was the worst.

“Then on the big screen came the biggest shock. It showed Cameron taking the sandpaper and putting it in his undies. By this stage, we knew: we’d f—ed up and f—ed up hard.”

“Kick in the guts” on being overlooked for Test captain

Khawaja said he was upset Tim Paine was appointed interim captain after Smith was sent home from Cape Town.

“I was a natural selection for interim captain, but was overlooked. I knew why. One reason was that I’d been a main protagonist during those pay disputes with CA and the board – and the board was who appointed the captain. On that basis alone, they probably weren’t going to give it to me.

“But the second – and, I believe, more important – reason was that they weren’t ready for a brown Australian cricket captain, even as an interim. You may be thinking, How do you know this? It’s because the chairman of selectors had told a journalist I know very well that ‘Uzzy doesn’t “have” what we want in a captain. He doesn’t display the right stuff.’ I was pretty sure I knew what that meant. I didn’t fit the old-school Aussie mode or have the right skin colour for the job. It’s cool, but at minimum I should have got the vice-captaincy. Instead, they’d given it to Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Marsh. For one of the more mature players, who’d been captaining his own state for a few years, that was a kick in the guts.”

On the aftermath

Khawaja says he tried to get the team to take collective responsibility for what happened in South Africa, but “two guys” disagreed.

“This was the most disappointing part for me. I knew who those two guys were, and it was ludicrous that, out of everyone, it was them. It showed me their true colours, though. When the going got tough, all they cared about was themselves. But I wasn’t going to stop fighting this cause.

“CA did a pretty unthorough investigation after that. It was almost as if they didn’t want to find out the whole truth.”

On why he chose to speak out now

Khawaja says he wanted to stand up for Warner, Smith and Bancroft by going public.

“This has been the hardest chapter to write … I still don’t think it’s right that those three boys copped all of the brunt. Their lives were turned upside down, and the psychological impact will remain with them forever. Unless I speak up about it, they’ll continue to have to hold the burden.

“It’s very clear I knew what was going on. I just want to say sorry to the three guys. We let you down. But mostly to the guy who copped the lion’s share of the blame, my good friend David. You shouldn’t have to carry this your whole life. Over the years, you’ve suffered more insults than anyone about this. You were not the architect. We were all the architects.”

On being racially abused at Lord’s during the 2023 Ashes

After the controversial stumping of England’s Jonny Bairstow in 2023, the Lord’s crowd turned on Australia, resulting in an incident in the long room. Khawaja was in the thick of it and revealed he was racially vilified.

“They [England spectators] were in unison, swearing, calling us ‘F-ing this’, and ‘F-that’, ‘C-nts this’. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. As we kept walking, I pulled up when someone shouted right into my ear – as there was only a rope and about 20 centimetres between us. ‘Don’t you dare scream in my ear again, you dickhead,’ I said to the first guy. Then as I walked on, and I heard someone else say, ‘Shut up, you Paki,’ I lost it. I don’t know who this was exactly. I told security, ‘Get this guy out of here!’ But the most bizarre thing – and David Warner will attest to this – was that, as we went to walk upstairs, one of the members was trying to trip us up. Yes, genuinely! Sticking his leg out, so we’d fall … Davey told him off first, so I didn’t think the bloke would do it again. But as I went to walk upstairs, he tried to do it to me too! I just looked up at security and said, ‘Are you f—ing serious right now?’ The security guy grabbed the man and got him to get his member card out. I’d seen enough.”

On his blow-up with Australian team manager Gavin Dovey over the ‘Homeworkgate’ issue in 2013

Khawaja was one of four Australian cricketers suspended for the third Test against India in Mohali in March 2013 after failing to complete a homework assignment set by coach Mickey Arthur. He details his blow-up with team manager Gavin Dovey.

“‘Uz, that is f—in shit,’ said Gavin. ‘That’s the shit we’re trying to get rid of in this team. Your attitude is an absolute joke, and to think you’re a part of the Australian cricket team, it’s –’.

“I cut him off. I looked him dead in the eye and said, ‘Are you f—ing serious, Gavin? What the f–k are you even doing here? You’re a glorified team manager. This is between the guys who actually know about cricket. Now you’re coming here like you own the joint. Shut the f–k up.’ Gavin tried to reply, but Pup [Michael Clarke] spoke up, trying to defuse the situation. ‘Uz, Uz, calm down.’ Now Gavin hadn’t earned my respect, but Pup was Pup. He had all my respect, and I’d never go against the captain – particularly someone who’d achieved what he had. So I shut up.”

On Travis Head wanting to open in the summer of 2025-26

Khawaja injured his back during the first Ashes Test against England in 2025, prompting Travis Head to make a match-winning hundred opening. But it was what Head said afterwards that upset Khawaja.

“Travis Head was sent up to open and batted unbelievably. He scored a hundred and we chased down the target of 205 in no time. Although my back was in pieces. I was so glad for the team. I gave Heady a huge hug when the game finished, apologised and said thanks and well done. I didn’t think he’d go out to the media and say he always wanted to open – in turn pretty much stabbing me more in the back! (That statement is a bit full on, but I couldn’t resist the pun. He didn’t stab me in the back, but I wouldn’t have said the same thing if the roles were reversed.) He wouldn’t have even thought about that statement as him trying to push me out of the team. Not at all, but I couldn’t believe he said that. He also said he was quietly always lobbying behind the scenes to open. Which wasn’t true and I knew it – he was never lobbying. But that was all the media needed and the narrative was off and running. I don’t think Heady realised the pain and stress it caused me and my family during the next few weeks.”

On Australia’s disastrous 5-0 ODI series defeat to South Africa in 2016

Khawaja suggests alcohol was an issue on a tour of South Africa a decade ago.

“The tour was a shambles. There was a serious issue with drinking at the time, particularly amongst the coaching staff. They were in the bar and chugging them down every night. They’d been doing this since I’d come back into the team. One evening, between the fourth and fifth game, we had a ‘crisis team meeting’. We all huddled in the big conference room and hashed it out. Well, not really. Most people who were there probably wouldn’t actually remember what was said that evening. As far as I could tell, many of the coaches were drunk. With red mouths from bottles of wine, stumbling and slurring their words. I looked over at George Bailey, our captain, who wasn’t drunk, and said, ‘Are we serious right now? Most of the guys in the room – including players and staff – are intoxicated. They won’t remember any of this tomorrow.’ With his classic humour and that trademark smile, George Bailey, eating his pizza, just looked at me and said, ‘I don’t think that’s a bad thing.’”